Ingrid Pollard facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Ingrid Pollard
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Pollard in 2024
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| Born | 1953 (age 71–72) |
| Nationality | British |
| Education | London College of Printing University of Derby University of Westminster |
| Occupation | Artist and photographer |
| Known for | Co-founder of Autograph ABP |
Ingrid Pollard MBE (born 1953) is a famous British artist and photographer. She is known for her photos of people and landscapes. Her art explores big ideas about what it means to be British and about people of different races.
Pollard helped start an important group called Autograph ABP. She currently lives and works in London.
In the 1980s, Pollard created a well-known photo series called Pastoral Interludes. It showed Black people in the English countryside. These photos made people think about why society often expects Black people to live only in cities.
She has also organized art shows, like Tradewinds2007 at the Museum of London Docklands. Her work has been displayed in major galleries, including the Hayward Gallery and the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Ingrid Pollard was born in Georgetown, Guyana, in 1953. When she was a young child, she moved with her family to the United Kingdom. She grew up in London.
Her interest in photography started early. She remembers looking at her family's photo albums and hearing the stories behind the pictures. Her father took many of these photos. Later, she even used some of his pictures in her own art.
As a teenager, she used her father's camera to take pictures of nature near her home for a school project. This was an early sign of the landscape photography she would become famous for.
In the 1980s, Pollard became one of the founding members of Autograph ABP, the Association of Black Photographers. She studied Film and Video at the London College of Printing, finishing in 1988. She later earned a Master's degree from the University of Derby in 1995 and a PhD from the University of Westminster in 2016.
Famous Artwork and Style
Pollard became well-known in the 1980s for her photo series that explored the English countryside. Some of her famous series include Pastoral Interlude (1987–88) and Seaside Series (1989).
In these works, she often used things that remind people of England's history, like souvenir postcards. She also added text to her photos to share her ideas. Her art questioned the common belief that the countryside was a place only for white people. She wanted to show that Black British people are part of the entire nation, not just cities.
One of her photos from Pastoral Interlude has a caption that explains this feeling:
"... it's as if the Black experience is only lived within an urban environment: I thought I liked the Lake District where I wandered lonely as a Black face in a sea of white. A visit to the countryside is always accompanied by a feeling of unease, dread..."
From 2005 to 2008, Pollard worked on a research project about historical English pub names. This research led to a book and an art exhibition.
Teaching and Other Work
Pollard has shared her knowledge by working as an artist-in-residence at many places. This means she worked on-site at an organization to create art. These places include Lee Valley Park and Croydon College.
She has also been a teacher for many years. She is currently a lecturer in Photography at Kingston University.
Awards and Recognition
Ingrid Pollard has received many awards for her important work in art.
- In 2016, she was given an Honorary Fellowship by the Royal Photographic Society.
- In 2018, she was the first Stuart Hall Associate Fellow at the University of Sussex.
- In 2022, she was nominated for the famous Turner Prize, one of the biggest awards in British art.
- In 2023, she was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for her services to art.
- In 2024, she won the prestigious Hasselblad Award for photography.
Where to See Her Work
Pollard's artwork is part of several major public collections. This means you can see her photography in these famous museums:
- Arts Council Collection
- Victoria and Albert Museum
- Tate
